Quote

Sometimes you have to protect the life of the play. It seems like spelling out mysterious, musical details can destroy a play by making the motivations too clear, too simplex.

John Guare

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John Guare
Age: 86
Born: 1938
Born: February 5
Actor
Playwright
Screenwriter
Writer
New York City
New York
Sometimes
Details
Life
Musical
Like
Motivation
Protect
Clear
Motivations
Making
Spelling
Seems
Mysterious
Play
Destroy

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Oh, I never use a seat belt. I don't believe in gravity.
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Feydeau's one rule of playwriting: Character A: My life is perfect as long as I don't see Character B. Knock Knock. Enter Character B.
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1975 is as much a historical document as 1803.
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Everyone talks about America, this great country. You hear, I'm more patriotic than you are. No, I'm more patriotic! But how few people know the history of this country and how we came into being. That's the part that just amazed me.
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James Joyce wrote the definitive work about Dublin while he was living in Switzerland. We're all where we come from. We all have our roots.
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The rich live hand-to-mouth too-just on a higher level.
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I'm sure there are some good dramaturgs but I've never worked with one.
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Like a dog, a playwright lives in an eternal present and a play is never closed.
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The life of a dancer is tragically short. What is remarkable about the New York City Ballet is that it makes us forget that. Because it keeps the ballet alive.
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Does any art have a practical value? People love to talk about how expensive a painting is. That's the only way we can talk about paintings in this century.
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Every play is so important. It's a record of what life was like at the time you wrote that play or that book.
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There's no such thing as a perfect play. Sometimes you have to protect the life of the play.
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You don't push the button that says Now I will write something that resonates in time. You don't know. It's what happens after a play is finished.
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I think a playwright must be his own dramaturg.
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The power of the past to still dominate our thinking today.
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And what would be great numbers in a Broadway show are now on stage of the New York City Ballet.
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I think a playwright must be his own dramaturg. I believe in a theater where the director and the playwright work together to create what they need.
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Avoiding humiliation is the core of tragedy and comedy.
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Show business offers more solid promises than Catholicism.
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Does the New York City Ballet affect other places? Yeah, it lets people know they should come to New York.
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